Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Free Press
Date Published: 2003-06-09
ISBN-13:9780743255127ISBN:0743255127
Description: Good. Good Condition! Ex-library copy with normal library markings. Glossy cover with tight binding and clean pages! Clear plastic adhered to cover for protection. Light shelf wear. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Free Press
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780743255127ISBN:0743255127
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Free Pr
Date Published: 2003-06-03
ISBN-13:9780743255127ISBN:0743255127
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780743255127. read more
"Chris Hedges has no expectation that war will ever be eradicated. War is "an inevitable part of the human condition," he laments. The world has been at peace a mere eight percent of recorded human history. He discusses the horrible death tolls, the weapons used in wars, the odds of dying or being wounded, the odds of suffering psychological damage. What it feels like to be shot. What it feels like to shoot another human being. Daily life in the military: boredom punctuated by terror. This is not a pleasant read, but kudos to Chris Hedges for debunking the glorious, John Wayne, Hollywood version of war. Like it or not, he presents the brutal facts honestly. A grim but realistic picture. No one should go near a military recruiter without having read this book."
"A truly informative book on the reality of war and its effects on people. The book is a quick read and incredibly interesting, with the text in a question-and-answer format. I found the arc of chapters clever as well, following the progression of a person from joining the military to questions of combat, wounds and injuries, dying, and life after the war.
The sections which caught my attention was how people adapt to combat. The vast majority of people do not like to kill other people. It's difficult. Media portrayals of combat show a sanitized reality of death and destruction, with whole bodies and peaceful expressions of death, but the truth is that bodies can be mutilated, disfigured, or burned, and soldiers can remain alive after being wounded.
Soldiers must be conditioned to kill. There's a quip from Lt. Col Grossman, who also wrote the book Killology, that "It is not too far off the mark to observe that there's something about continuous, inescapable combat which will drive 98 percent of all men insane, and the other two percent were crazy when they got there." The remaining two percent had aggressive psychopathic personalities which allows them to not be affected by the stresses of combat. That statistic reminds me of Daniel Goleman (who wrote 'Emotional Intelligence') that one percent of all people have a sociopathic personality who lack empathy for others and only think of themselves. Perhaps there is a correlation? For typical soldiers however, experiencing traumatic events in war can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (around fifty percent for WWII and Vietnam vets, and twenty percent for Gulf War I vets) which has real consequences on health and family.
Overall, the costs of war are more than material but human as well. Asking citizen-soldiers to go to war and experience death and destruction is no light task and re-affirms the responsibility of the executive branch to use their power wisely.
"War, the blood-swollen god, asks us to sacrifice our young. Beware of that sacrifice. Fear it.""
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